Onyomi
Onyomi, with their corresponding English keywords 3 things: * 1. Think of the ONYOMI as just another radical! A sonic one, rather than a visual one. : A hundred kanji can have the same ONYOMI the same way a hundred kanji can have the same 糸 or 木 radical. OK so far? We use english keywords that LOOK like the radicals (i.e. ＝ Abe Lincoln's Hat, and =bunnyears). In the same way, we use English keywords for ONYOMI that SOUND similar : BA = barber, KA = car! * 2. A lot of ONYOMI come in both short- and long-vowel versions (such as SHO / SHOU, SHU/SHUU, and KYO/KYOU) . : To help deal with this confusion, I decided that English keywords of Long-vowel ONyomis (SHOU, SHUU, KYOU,etc.) use single words, like any regular ONYOMI: SHOW me the bunny, put SHOES on yo mama’s hooves, KYOU was a nice day. : English Keywords of short-vowel ONyomi, on the other hand, will always be abbreviations: SHO becomes Smell His Odor, SHU becomes See Her Underpants, KYO becomes Keep Your Odor, etc. : Since these abbreviations are clearly 3 words, that should cue you that the ONyomi only has 3 letters, and therefore is short-vowel. * 3. Some ONyomi, like KYOU or ZOKU - I honestly couldn't think of any good English words that sound similar. So instead of using English keywords, I use a more common Japanese keyword. : For example, KYOU is the word for 'day' （今日）, so every word with the ONYOMI of KYOU will use "Day" as the keyword. ---- A an - ANN Coulter, naturally. atsu - OUGHT TO B ba- BArber baku - BACK to the future. bai - BUY some pot for mom, she has glaucoma ben - BENny hill bi - you BE illing. BO - BOzack. BOU- BOWLing is fun even if you don't like the Big Lebowski bu - BOO! Because it is scary. bun- BUNny. Of course. byou - B.O. (body odor) C chi - usually, "CHEEEse mmmm. " chiku -- CHICKS. Groovy ones. With bellbottoms and ironed hair. cho - CHOke chou - comedian Margaret CHO. chu - kiss (since the Japanese sound effect of a kiss is チュ！） chuu- CHEW D da - your DAd dai - DIE, die my darling! Dan - speaking of die, die . . . .Glen DANzig datsu - DATSUN! of course. dei - DAY den - DENtists do it in the chair. Don- DON Quixote, naturally! DO- DOn't DOU - Homer Simpson says this. doku - DON'T COok E ei -- the catchphrase of '70s icon Arthur Fonzarelli AKA the Fonz: EYYY! en - ENjoy F FU - FUcked up fuu - PHOOey! fuku - clothes. Since the Japanese word for clothes （服） is pronounced FUKU. G ga - GOT gaku - GOT COOL gai - he's an allright GUY - for a holocaust-denier. gan - GHANDI!!!!! ge - GET UP (get on up) geki - GET KEYED UP gei - GAY gen - say that aGAIN and so help me God. . . gi - GEEse GO - five (the Japanese word for five is pronounced go!) GOU - GOOOUU to the store and get Mommy some pills. gon - she's GONE to the liquor store. Gotsu- you’ve GOT TO stop eating marbles gun - GUN, duh. Gat. Piece. Roscoe. Toolie. gu - GEE, You look tired. Maybe you should stop for now. guu - pile of green GOO. gyou- GET YO ass out of here. H hai -- yes! HAI! haku - HACK apart han - HAN Solo!!! hatsu - HATS are wonderful hei - HATE hin - i guess "HIM" is the closest word. hitsu -- HITS of acid. ho - Hairy Obese (abbreviation) hou - WHORE. hyou - HE'S YOUR best friend. I I - "I" think that you have a disease which you are ashamed of. iki - ewww, that's　ICKY J ji - JESUS christ, Kanji is hard. jin - GIN and tonic jo - Jack Off jou- JOE Stalin ju - Juicy Underwear juu - Jews invented monotheism! And psychology, communism, and sarcasm too! jitsu - ju JITSU juku - JUKE box K ka - CAR kaku - COCKs!!!! Droopy ones!!! katsu - CATS!!!! Droopy ones! kai - KITES are fun to fly. . . .after you have learned every single kanji. kan - Ghengis KHAN Ken - KENny, the kid who you killed. ketsu - KETCHUP ki - mnemonics are the KEY to remembering whatever - KEEP this in mind. kin - your KINfolk. I don’t cotton to them. ko - KODOMO （子供） kou - COLON. COcaine. kon - CORN on the cob. koku - COKE as in 'white lines, don't do it, baby!' ku - KUchi, （口）　ｍｅａｎｉｎｇ mouth kuu -COOL kun - raCOON kyo - Keep Your Odor to yourself. kyou - TODAY. the Japanese word for today （今日） , which is pronounced kyou, M mai - i hate MYself and i want to die mei - You MAY be able to read German one day. mo -MORE money more problems. mou - MOmar kadaffy moku - MO COOL (than the other mnemonics). mon- MONK mu - a COW myou - MEET YOUR maker. N nai - NIIIIIce nan - the wonderful bread from india nen - YEAR - the Japanese word for year （ 年 ） which is pronounced NEN ni - vince NEIL nou - NOOOO way! nyo - R&B sensation NEYO. NYU = there IS no short-vowel "nyu" so don't worry about it. nyuu - NEWW and improved mnemonics are what makes R ra - the sun god rai - RAIghtning raku- ROCK(with a thick Japanese accent, naturally) rei - RAY smuckles, bitches! also, raygun! ren - MC REN, bitches!! you can KIZZ his black AZZ. retsu -LET'S, of course ri - bruce LEE, of course! rin - a RING, is what I was supposed to give my wife on our wedding day. (i gave her some waffles) ritsu - RE-TOOL ro - ROAD row -things in a ROW roku- ROCK and roll. rui - RUIN ryu - there IS NO short-vowel RYU. ryuu - RE-USE ryo - Regulate Your Odor ryou - RE-ORDER ryoku- RE-OCCUR. Sorry that is the best I could do. S sa- i SAW what you did with that bear. sai - SIGH with despair san- SANTA claus saku -- you're all on my nutSAC satsu　−　I　ＳＡＷ　ＴＷＯ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅｍ． sei - SAY that one more time and I will bank you sen - SEND it straight to hell! setsu - i SAID TO him , "setsu!" is what i said to him. sha - I SHAll return. shaku - a SHACK shin - SHINing. sho - Smell Her Odor shou - SHOWme that you love me. shoku - SHOCKing!!! shu - See Her Underpants shuu - SHOES shuku - i SHOOK hands with your dad. shutsu -- elmer fudd SHOOTS a wabbit. SO - Some One SOU- SOOOOO much soku -- SOCKS are useful SU- the Japanese word for nest （巣） which is pronounced su SUU- Susan sui - SWEET T tai - TIE up a guy and make him your gimp ta- TATAs!!! Asouthern word for boobies!! taku - TALK TO tan　−　TAN, the color tei - TAKE me to your leader teki - the Japanese word for enemy （敵） which is pronounced TEKI to - Take Off TOU- big TOE toku - inhale marijuana. TSU- there IS NO short-vowel tsu. TSUU- TO (i.e. go to the room) U u - UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUrusai!!! W wa - christopher WAlken Y ya - YAAAAwn yaku - a hairy smelly YAK yo - YOYO you - YODEL YU- Your Underpants YUU - YOU are reading some real science right now Z zan -- ZOMbies zai -- XYlophone zen -- ZEN monks zo - ZORRO zou - the Japanese word for elephant （象） which is pronounced ZOU. zoku - bandit (because the japanese word for bandit 賊 IS PRONOUNCED 'ZOKU')